


a tattered line of string

by retts



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M, i just want loki and thor to be goddamned happy, is it a fix it?, is that too much to ask for?, spoilers for Infinity War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-28 16:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14452788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/retts/pseuds/retts
Summary: where does a frost giant go when he dies?





	a tattered line of string

**Author's Note:**

> okay full disclosure: haven’t seen any avengers film at all, i last watched the second thor film, but after reading what happened to loki and thor in iw, i just wanted to write this little indulgence. i will always love thorki. in my mind, they’ve been reincarnated in an alternate universe where they are just as complicated but also really fucking happy.
> 
> i tried to be deliberately vague because i know nothing (except the fact that thor and loki are canon) so sorry for any inaccuracy

where does a frost giant go after he dies? one who’s neither good nor evil but a whole lot of chaos and regret and rage. when he’s killed a few thousand people and gave up his own life to save a brother he hates and loves. he does not suit the noble halls nor the endless afterlife. maybe the frost giant hiding in the aseir skin will dissolve into the fabric of space itself as stardust. maybe he will simply cease to exist, the horrible memory of him forgotten.

or maybe he will be called back when ragnarok comes, only to die again before he reaches thor’s side and able to tell him, _i am here, brother._ there will be no suffocating hug, no boisterous ‘ _brother, at last!_ ’ with a knock of their helmeted heads that might do them damage even before the battle does. and yet his second death is not quick enough to avoid witnessing the god of thunder’s final downfall as flames engulf the world.

well, they are all meant to die anyway.

 

 

 

 

sometimes, though, fate - all three of them - has different plans.

‘loki, loki, for odin’s sake, wake up!’

groaning, loki opens his eyes against the sunshine. ‘don’t curse me, brother,’ he says, and sits up with thor’s help. gods, everything hurts. his ears are ringing loudly with a strange echoing metallic sound. a big hand cups the back of loki’s neck and he gratefully lets his head roll back, the rest of his weight caught by a sturdy - more than sturdy - arm.

‘i’m alive,’ says loki softly.

the sunlight collapses into thor’s blue, blue, blue eye filled with tears. ‘yes, you are,’ says thor just as quietly and with twice as much shock.

‘did you cry in relief, brother, thinking i was finally gone?’

‘don’t even fucking joke about this,’ snaps thor, fingertips digging into the back of loki’s skull; it soothes the pain there. ‘what is this, by the way? how are you alive?’

loki looks down at himself and is just able to close his fingers in loose fists. he doesn’t have any strength. it feels as if his life is hanging by a thread. the miracle is, though, that there is life to hang on to.

‘i have no idea,’ loki admits with a twist of his lips. ‘but shouldn’t i be the one asking questions right now? i take it you defeated thanos?’ he peers at thor and is caught by his expression, unable look away again. ‘from the look on your face, you did not. fabulous. i so wanted to come back to life with no more threats to it.’

‘loki,’ says thor, sounding agonised. he lifts a filthy hand and brushes loki’s hair away from his face. ‘loki, you’re alive. by the _norns_ , how - ‘

‘quiet now, you fool; they will hear you and think you’re really cursing me.’

thor looks torn, then he heroically wrests whatever platitudes he wants to say back down and kisses loki instead. it surprises loki that thor has the guts to do so in front of his remaining allies, though it doesn’t stop him from kissing him back. everyone else can fade away. they’ve already done so. no one else is worthy of attention. the kiss is gentler than loki expected after literally coming back to life but he feels thor’s restraint in the rigidity of his body. it feels like its been ages since he last had this. a profound, endless longing rises up from the depths of his soul and loki surges to deepen the kiss, to feel thor’s vitality surround him. _i am here, brother_ , he thinks. somehow, if loki says the words aloud, he has a feeling thor might respond with a huge grin and a brain-busting greeting:  _brother, at last!_

instead, loki breaks away when his chest seizes with pain, and thor holds him through the spasms. 

‘you need rest,’ says thor, kissing the top of loki’s head. ‘you need to heal. i _need_ you by my side.’

‘a sweet sentiment, and funnily enough, not one i’m inclined to argue about.’ loki closes his eyes and summons his seidr. it takes some time, during which he almost panics when he feels nothing, but soon the threads of power twine around his fingers and ankles. loki breathes out and lets thor and his magic prop him upright.

‘i could carry you - ‘ thor begins to offer when loki has grimaced through five terrible steps. 

‘dear brother, do shut up.’ loki stumbles on the sixth and the sudden movement, along with the flex of thor’s arm around him, sends agony ripping through his being. he gasps and clutches at thor’s armor, broken fingernails skidding across the metal. loki lets out a hiss. ‘fuck this shit. carry me, thor. now.’

thor laughs as he bends down and gently sweeps loki off his feet. it’s a soft sound, fragile, hiding its own pain, but thor holds loki as if he is no burden at all.

 

 

 


End file.
